On Monday, January 12 we began the first field visits of 2015 in Los Pinares. On Tuesday, the 13th we visited Barrio Nuevo and on the 16th we visited La Branza a new potential community close to Las Palmas in the area of Miraflor. On the 22nd we visited Salmeron and on the 26thand 27th we made our second visits to Los Pinares and Barrio Nuevo respectively. All these visits were carried out by Yulibeth del Rosario Velasquez Mendoza and Vicente Velasquez Arauz.

In Los Pinares, we completed a visit to the two greenhouses in that community belong to Nimia Melgara and José Polanco. The results achieved by both beneficiaries were positive. Both José and Nimia are very motivated and pleased with their greenhouses. They have been present for all of our visits and are eager to participate in our workshops and training.

In Barrio Nuevo we completed our visit in one day and like Los Pinares the results of the greenhouse project have been very positive. Reynaldo was very pleased with his first harvest and said that it is very fortunate that the project came to their community. He said he will plant his second crop, which will be tomatoes at the end of January because he wants to give the soil time to rejuvenate and apply ash to disinfect it.

Elsa’s crop is just a few weeks away from harvest and we are all very excited for the harvest because she was able to overcome the issue of poor soil with help from Vicente and because she has successfully grown everything organically.

On Friday the 16th we visited the community of La Labranza which is part of the lower area of Miraflor. There are two people in this community that are interested in receiving a greenhouse. One is an adult female named Deyanira Alaniza Rugama and the other is a teenage boy named Friedman Alaniz. Friedman, in particular would be a good candidate for the greenhouse because he already successfully manages a small family garden and is quite a hard working young man. He does not have any money to use as a down payment but as the project coordinator I strongly recommend that we consider finding a way to finance the greenhouse for him.

On the 22nd of January we visited Salmeron where Don Santos Rocha is growing seedlings for a tomato crop which he will transplant when they are mature. Donisio has yet to find a better location for his greenhouse. The pvc pipes have broken twice due to high winds and we agreed to set it up again if he could find an area that provided better shelter. The high winds are presenting a problem for the greenhouse in Salmeron and we need to look at modifying the design to withstand the wind.

On the 26th and 27th we made our second trips to Los Pinares and Barrio Nuevo respectively. Both José Polanco and Nimia Melgara report continued success in the development of their crops withou the need for any chemical inputs.

Likewise in Barrio Nuevo, both beneficiaries reported continued succes and Elsa expects to harvest in about 4 weeks.